DNA-topoisomerases are enzymes present in the nuclei of cells where they catalyze the breaking and rejoining of DNA strands, controlling the topological state of DNA. Recent studies also suggest that topoisomerases are involved in regulating template supercoiling during RNA transcription. There are two major classes of mammalian topoisomerases. DNA-topoisomerase-I catalyzes changes in the topological state of duplex DNA by performing transient single-strand breakage-union cycles. In contrast, mammalian topoisomerase II alters the topology of DNA by causing a transient enzyme bridged double-strand break, followed by strand passing and resealing. Mammalian topoisomerase II has been further classified as Type II α and Type II β. The antitumor activity associated with agents which are topoisomerase poisons is associated with their ability to stabilize the enzyme-DNA cleavable complex. This drug-induced stabilization of the enzyme-DNA cleavable complex effectively converts the enzyme into a cellular poison.
Several antitumor agents in clinical use have potent activity as mammalian topoisomerase II poisons. These include adriamycin, actinomycin D, daunomycin, VP-16, and VM-26 (teniposide or epipodophyllotoxin).
In contrast to the number of clinical and experimental drugs which act as topoisomerase II poisons, there are currently only a limited number of agents which have been identified as topoisomerase I poisons. Camptothecin and its structurally-related analogs are among the most extensively studied topoisomerase I poisons. Recently, bi- and terbenzimidazoles (Chen et al., Cancer Res. 1993, 53, 1332–1335; Sun et al., J. Med. Chem. 1995, 38, 3638–3644; Kim et al., J. Med. Chem. 1996, 39, 992–998), certain benzo[c]phenanthridine and protoberberine alkaloids and their synthetic analogs (Makhey et al., Med. Chem. Res. 1995, 5, 1–12; Janin et al., J. Med. Chem 1975, 18, 708–713; Makhey et al., Bioorg. & Med. Chem. 1996, 4, 781–791), as well as the fungal metabolites, bulgarein (Fujii et al., J. Biol. Chem. 1993, 268, 13160–13165) and saintopin (Yamashita et al., Biochemistry 1991, 30, 5838–5845) and indolocarbazoles (Yamashita et al., Biochemistry 1992, 31, 12069–12075) have been identified as topoisomerase I poisons.
Presently, a need exists for novel anti-cancer agents, for anti-cancer agents that exhibit improved activity, and for anti-cancer agents that exhibit fewer side-effects or improved selectivity compared to existing agents.